Howard Queen

Howard Donovan Queen (November 18, 1893 – March 6, 1978) was a United States Army colonel and commanding officer of the 366th Infantry Regiment, an all-Black unit attached to the 92nd Infantry Division, during World War II. Queen commanded the regiment in combat during the Italian campaign and previously fought in the Pancho Villa expedition and on the Western Front in World War I.

Early life and military service Queen was born in Maryland in 1893. His father, Richard Queen, was a sergeant in the 10th Cavalry Regiment and a 15-year veteran of the Indian Wars. As a teenager, Queen enlisted in the regiment on April 13, 1911. He saw combat in northern Mexico during the Pancho Villa expedition and survived the Battle of Carrizal in 1916. During World War I, he was a captain with the 368th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Division, made up of Black soldiers and junior officers commanded by white senior officers. Racially segregated and initially tasked with unskilled labor by the U.S. Army, his regiment was seconded to the French Army and subsequently distinguished itself in combat in the Lorraine and Meuse-Argonne campaigns.

In 1925, he received a degree in electrical engineering from Howard University.

On December 15, Queen filed a written request to be relieved from command, declaring, "The treatment the regiment and myself have received during the period attached to the 92nd Infantry Division has been such as to disturb me mentally and has not been such as is usually given an officer of my grade and service." Colonel Queen was relieved on the grounds of physical disability and replaced by his first officer, Lieutenant Colonel Alonzo Ferguson. Queen retired after more than 30 years of military service. He later remarried to Helen Hall Queen. In failing health, he entered the Coatesville Veterans Administration Hospital in 1974 and died there in 1978 at the age of 84. His burial was at Arlington National Cemetery.